appalling

Labour is nursing its wounds after a truly appalling result, coming a poor third in a part of the world it has owned for more than a century.

Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips has denied claims of a cover-up and insisted her government was "committed to exposing the failures" to tackle "these appalling crimes".

"The speed at which the disease was progressing" made it harder to plan around, he added, saying the key focus was on trying to avoid an "appalling public health crisis".

Much of Virginia Giuffre's story has been heard before but in her memoir, published posthumously, the abuse is described in appalling detail.

"We don't want to live in a country where conversations and careers are destroyed and shut down by that most appalling of slurs," he said.